Computing systems have become increasingly important not just for business applications, but for recreational purposes as well. Millions use computing systems including desktop and portable personal computers, handheld computers, video gaming systems, portable video gaming systems, and suitably equipped personal communications systems, for playing computer games, instant messaging, video conferencing, and countless other similar applications. For computer games and messaging alone, such devices have become indispensable to countless individuals.
One example of an increasingly popular computer game is online poker, which is perhaps due to the popularity of televised poker tournaments and the burgeoning interest in poker, generally. In an online poker game, players can interact with other players in real time, and in some games, can even wager and collect real money. Players interested in playing poker can typically readily find a game over the Internet, even if they do not personally know others who want to play. Furthermore, players who wish to play anonymously, without exposing their identities to other players, can protect their privacy as they wish. However, while playing poker online offers some advantages, it also presents disadvantages. Experienced poker players do more than consider their own hands, watch what cards that their opponents play, and monitor the level of the current bet. Good players also watch other players to see how they manipulate their cards, and how attentive to the other players they are. Further, they may study other players for “tells,” such as mannerisms and gestures that seem to indicate when a player has good cards or might be bluffing.
Current online poker games, however, do not communicate these additional types of behavior to other players. As a result, some of the subtler aspects of the game—and some of the enjoyment of the game—is lost.
FIG. 1A illustrates the operation of a typical on-line poker game as it may currently be played. More specifically, FIG. 1A shows a game screen 100a presented on a computer display 102. Game screen 100a illustrates a round of unique game that uses some of the principles of conventional poker, referred to as “seven-hand poker.” In seven-hand poker, one participant selects a card to be played, while an opposing participant chooses in which of seven hands—represented by seven chips 104—in which the card will be played. At the end of the round, cards played are turned face up, and the player with the better hand for each of the seven chips 104 wins that chip. To play the game, a player uses his or her hand 106 to a move a mouse 108 to control a cursor 110a. Movements 112 of cursor 110a correspond with movements 114 of mouse 108. Upon selecting a displayed object, such as one of a number of playing cards 116a or a submit button 118, by pressing one or more mouse buttons 120, the player takes his or her turn.
FIGS. 1B through 1D show the kinds of actions a player might perform in a typical game of this type before playing a card that might be of interest to an astute opponent. As compared to FIG. 1A, FIG. 1B shows a game screen 100b where the player has used a cursor 100b to rearrange cards 116b in the player's hand, so as to group cards of equal rank into pairs. Having rearranged cards 116b on game screen 100b, as shown in FIG. 1C on a game screen 100c, the player then may control a cursor 100c to choose a card 122 for possible play. However, assuming that the player is at least somewhat disinterested in the game or cannot decide, the player opens a browser window 124, as shown in FIG. 1D, instead of taking his/her turn. Alternatively, the player may simply stop interacting in the game for at least a predefined time, e.g., sufficiently long to enable a screen saver to run. After that, as shown by a game screen 100e of FIG. 1E, the player, apparently having changed his/her mind, chooses to play a card 126 and controls a cursor 100e to click on submit, to complete his/her turn.
These machinations by the player, however, are not revealed or evident to other players. FIG. 1F shows a game screen 100f that might be viewed by an opponent while the other player has rearranged his cards (as illustrated in FIG. 1B), temporarily chosen one card to play (as shown in FIG. 1C), and surfed the web (as illustrated in FIG. 1D). The only variance discernible by the opponent occurs when, as shown in FIG. 1E, the player finally decides to play card 126. At that point, as shown in FIG. 1G, that card suddenly appears face down on a game screen 100g, and a place prompt 128 appears, prompting the opponent to position the card played by the player. Thus, whatever information that the opponent might have gleaned from the player's actions if they had been sitting face-to-face, or whatever “bluffing” the player might have intended through these actions, is lost within the computerized poker game, because it will not be evident to the other players in the game.
Other online games and environments also fail to communicate such behaviors, so that the information corresponding to actions by a player is not evident to the other participants in the online game or environment. For example, in online messaging, a participant in a session may not be aware of whether the sender is distracted by other windows or received a chat message from another person, has edited and revised a message to indicate that the writer is being careful with their words, or other such factors that would be evident if the parties chatting were present in the same room. Similarly, despite the growing importance of online commerce, such as online auctions, the only behaviors of participants that may be monitored are the bids they make. Although the behavior and demeanor of other participants in a bidding process may be of tremendous interest to other bidders—as it is at real auctions—this information is not available in online auctions.
Clearly, participants in interactive computing environments or games would often want to be able to perceive the behaviors and related information for other participants, beyond those behaviors mandated by the interactive environment to complete a turn or a move. Currently, that type of information is not provided in online games or in many other types of interactive environments that occur online.